Double jeopardy

Once again on the obstacles to the further - and desirable - development of international law. The countries of the world may be signed up to all sorts of legal instruments defining the limits of what governments may rightly do in the treatment of their peoples. But try to get some action on keeping an obvious candidate for international criminal prosecution away from a major conference, and what happens? What happens is that officials from other countries, and regional bodies, become exasperated. They worry that it might 'jeopardise the summit'.

Jeopardizing the lives of Zimbabweans by the thousand? Well... better to muddle along anyway. Such is the present clout of international law.